Serco Group plc (Serco), the international service company, announces today that it has been selected as preferred bidder for a new contract to provide integrated facilities management (FM) services to the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust in the UK. The contract, which is expected to be signed in the next few weeks and is due to start in July 2012, has a total estimated value of approximately £140m over ten years, comprising an initial seven-year period and a maximum three-year extension.

Serco will be delivering services to three acute hospitals, two community hospitals and several small clinics in the East Kent area. These include the Kent and Canterbury, the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in Margate, and the William Harvey in Ashford. Providing a range of services, Serco will work in partnership with the Trust to modernise services across the estate and improve clinical service provision and patient experience. Over 1,100 meals will be served to inpatients per day and over 150,000 square metres of estate cleaned. In addition to cleaning and patient catering, Serco will also be responsible for the delivery of ward housekeeping, retail services, portering, security, switchboard, helpdesk, staff accommodation, pest control and waste management. Approximately 700 people will be employed on the contract, the majority of which will be transferred from the existing provider and the Trust with their terms and conditions protected.

In making the announcement, the Director of Capital Planning and Strategic Development for the Trust, Liz Shutler said "In selecting Serco as our new provider we were not just looking for value for money, but improved levels of service and innovation for the benefit of our patients. In particular we believe the introduction of Ward Housekeepers, as the link between clinical staff and cleaning staff, will further improve the services we offer our patients across the Trust. Working in partnership with Serco, the new contract will also make greater use of new technology and the introduction of a new centralised helpdesk should make it much easier to manage the resources to best effect."

Christopher Hyman, Chief Executive of Serco Group, said: "We are delighted to have been selected to provide these important services to the East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust. This adds a further partnership to our growing health business which provides enabling services to the NHS and other customers around the world, and demonstrates our commitment to patient-centric care that improve outcomes and experience."